What was the Peru meteor?

On Saturday, September 15, 2007, local residents of the Southern Peru, South America, department of Puno reported that a meteorite had landed in the plains near Caranca.

As you can see from the map at the right, the department of Puno likes along the shores of Lake Titicaca and the border of Bolivia.

The on-the-scene reports were interesting. The Peru meteor crater was 18 feet deep and 90 feet across, quite a sizable hole. One scientist said the fumes in the area were quite strong and overpowering in spite of wearing a mask.

Shortly after the impact, many of the natives complained of feeling sick with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, indigestion, and flu-like symptoms.

This gave rise to the scare of an unknown disease brought from outer space by the Peru meteor.

However, further investigation by competent meteor authorities led to other conclusions, though not all in agreement. There was no radiation found upon checking the scene of the crater. There were no metal fragments found on primary analysis.

Among the theories supported by data at the site of the Peru meteor were:

The heat of the meteor caused ground water to evaporate. The ground water contains arsenic, sulfur, and other elements, and the resulting steam cloud was the cause of the malaise.

It was not a meteor but a pool of sedimentary deposit with smelly, methane-producing organic matter.

It was a "mud volcano," where hot gasses come up through the earth and produce sometimes toxic gasses.